G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I am on Dish Network, and they hate sports fans, my wife (much to my chagrin) is trying to raise three Yankees fans. Dish will not negotiate with regional sports networks (YES ) even though that is our local network. They also do mot allow MLB extra innings. So here is my question. I need to subscribe to mlb.tv and it does not have chromecast support. I need to decide: -Do I buy a Samsung smart TV? -Do I buy an Apple TV? -Do I buy a roku box? I wish there was chromecast support for mlb.tv but there isn't so I need to choose one of the above three options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Goldhaber Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Buy the new roku stick for $50.mlbtv on roku works fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Randy Hudson Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Do not go the Smart TV path unless you want to routinely replace the entire TV just to keep up with streaming content advances. Apple TV is well integrated into the Apple ecosystem while the Roku is much more flexible, not bring tied to any ecosystem. However unless your budget is extremely limited I'd avoid the Roku Streaming Stick. It's a bit underpowered, making it's interface crawl compared to the Roku 3.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Thanks everyone. I am leaning towards roku because of the plex support as I am buding media server. Though given my wife's ecosystem I may just do Apple TV and run Plex on chromecast. What I really need is Dish to stop screwing fans in the New York regional markets. Going to cost me north of two hundred dollars so we can watch a subpar team. Why dish doesn't want this money is beyond me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Randy Hudson Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Well .... You can install Plex on the Apple TV if you Jailbreak it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Muffenbier Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I bought a roku 3 and loved it. Then I bought a 2nd for a smart tv. Later I picked up a Chromecast to test with. Hands down, without a doubt the roku is the way to go. I also got my sisters comcast login and now I'm watching live espn too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Muffenbier Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 On Chromecast you get a bitrate of about 8mbps for your local content. With a wired roku you can do 20mbps in plex which is full bitrate with no transcoding for my bluray rips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Jason Muffenbier Wow I did not realize there was such a bitrate difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Muffenbier Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Simply because the Chromecast is wireless only and is limited by that. Even if you run a roku 3 wireless you'll get better speeds and reliability as it supports dual band and the Chromecast does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Douglas Dewing Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 If you're in the YES network region, you won't be able watch Yankees games live via mlb.tv. You're in a blackout zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 WTF! I am trying to give my money to someone to watch baseball and noone will take it. Thanks for the heads up Douglas Dewing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Douglas Dewing Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 They do un-blackout the games an hour (I think) after they're over. But, yeah. I live in Oregon, and all of the Mariners games are blacked out. Luckily, I'm a Yankees fan, so it only really affects me when the Yankees play the Ms. But it still sucks. NBA does the same thing with League Pass. I assume all the major sports do that. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Yes I just called mlb.tv All of the Yankees games will be blacked out. I love the Hopper (it was second only to UVerse in terms of DVR) service but I think I may have to eat the ETF and switch to DirectTV. I love that I am in a Black Out area and should just watch the local broadcast of games that are not broadcasted to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Muffenbier Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I imagine if you route through a VPN you can get around blackout restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Douglas Dewing Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I feel your pain, Greg Mcverry. I'm a huge Portland Trail Blazers fan, and something like 66 of their 82 games are broadcast on Comcast Sports Net...which until September was only available on Comcast Cable. So if you had Dish, or DirecTV, or were unfortunate enough, like me, to live in a town that was too small for Comcast to bother with, you were screwed. Charter, the cable company in my town, finally started carrying CSN in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 I decided to just suck it up and pay Dish the ETF. Just ordered DirectTV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Muffenbier Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Contracts are no good. Let me teach you how to pirate everything :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Jason Muffenbier maybe game the cable industry for deals. Not outright steel through piracy.:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 That is why I had to go with DirectTV. My original hope was to stick with Dish and do MLB.tv but due to the archaic blackout maps (Look at Idaho) I have to eat my early termination fee. All I wanted to do was give some money to somebody so my family good watch baseball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Update: Guy on phone originally told me my ETF was $200. Turns out weekend out sourced help was wrong. $600 to leave Dish. I can't do that. This is getting ridiculous. I just want to let my three kids enjoy a baseball game with my wife. Is this media landscape we want? Where I am blackedout from America's Game? I need to start watching Cricket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg Mcverry Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 I know. The blackout map for mlb.tv is ridiculous. Has to be more games blacked out then played. Idaho, a state with no team, falls in six local markets I think. I have been to Idaho. Only thing local is the wonderful locals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Douglas Dewing Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Nah. There aren't more games blacked out than played. And you can always enjoy other teams' games! I'm looking forward to seeing how the Royals do this year, and to see if the Nationals have a bounce back season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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